0. Read the case below [taken from: [Management Information Systems, 11/E Ken Laudon Jane Laudon] understand and answer the questions in context of Management information system.

   CASE- STUDY 1- BANK OF CANADAS SOFTWARE WOES

   Founded in 1864 and chartered in 1869 as the Merchants Bank of Halifax, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) took its current name in 1901. In 1941, based on its total assets of $1 billion, RBC became Canadas largest bank. Twenty years later, RBC installed its first computer, making it the first bank in Canada to employ such technology. In October 2003, the organization had 60,000 employees, totaled $413 billion in assets, and served 12 million customers. Including worldwide operations, RBC has spent $1.6 billion on technology.

   On Monday, May 31, 2004, the RBC information technology staff made a programming upgrade to what has been described as key banking software. According to Martin Lippert, RBCs vice chairman and CIO, a glitch in the banks computer systems was most likely caused by a single worker entering a relatively small number of incorrect pieces of code during the update. The glitch resulted in a massive computer failure that affected millions of banking customers around the country. Lippert specified that the incorrect

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code was related to transit numbers or field identifiers in a table. The mistakes worked their way through the banks systems quickly, but conspicuously.

RBC had already discovered the problem by six oclock the next morning. Unfortunately, recognition of the error wasnt even half the battle. In fact, RBC fixed the programming error that had been made on May 31 early on Tuesday, June 1. Still, several days later, millions of RBC customers were still unable to check their account balances, had not received their paychecks, or had automatic payments or transfers delayed. The reactions of customers, as could be expected, were tinged with displeasure. Some customers merely suffered the inconvenience of not having access to information that they were accustomed to having at their fingertips all of the time. Other customers, those who count on their paychecks to get by, had their lives affected more seriously.

One such person, a law firm executive assistant named Andrea Mitchell, was forced to ask her employer for a cash advance to make up for her temporarily lost paycheck and to meet her personal expenses. So, if the human programming error was corrected so swiftly, why did RBC continue to experience problems related to the glitch over the course of a work week? The glitch put into motion a chain of management and control procedures that exacerbated the problem. Procedures that were intended to fix the problem instead caused a logjam of activity from which the bank could not recover immediately.

The first question that most people asked was, Why werent backup systems used to keep business flowing while the main systems were being fixed? As stated on the banks Web site, Back up facilities exist in case our primary facility is disabled. As a matter of policy, therefore, all program changes are implemented simultaneously to both the primary and backup facilities. Therefore, the same error that compromised the main system also affected the backup system. According to Lippert, in addition to the programming code update being entered incorrectly, the new code was not tested properly before it was deployed. RBC policy calls for all new pieces of software to be tested thoroughly before they are used in production systems.

On Tuesday, June 1, with the knowledge that random duplications of transactions were occurring in its systems, RBC decided to suspend its end-of-day processing rather than let it run with incomplete or inaccurate data. When verifying the health of its systems took longer than expected, RBC was left with a backlog of transactions to process. All the while, new transactions were pouring in, as they would on a normal business day, and these added to the logjam. On Wednesday, June 2, the IT department wasconfident that it could make up the ground lost on Tuesday and remain current with Wednesdays transactions. The newer transactions were placed at the end of queue because of a sequential numbering system, so the backlog had to be cleared before RBC could process any new transactions. Also slowing down the effort was the banks decision to monitor data processing manually following the glitch to make sure that no coding errors persisted. Trying to process two days of transactions at once proved to be more difficult than the bank imagined it would be.

As if the event itself were not bad enough for business, RBC came under criticism for the way in which it handled the public relations end of the problem. First, RBC made assurance that all systems and accounts would be normalized by Thursday, June 3. Confident in this assessment, the banks CEO, Gordon Nixon, left for Europe on Wednesday, June 2. When customers were still experiencing difficulties with their

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accounts later in the week, the bank appeared weak by not having its leader available to address customers concerns. As a possible reason for Nixons untimely exit from the scene, John Layne, of the crisis management company Contingency Management Consultants, surmises the common organizational flaw in which lower level employees are loathe to pass bad news up the corporate ladder. In Nixons absence, other RBC executives took turns addressing the media and the public, though the first public comments on the glitch did not come forth until late Wednesday afternoon. Having a single representative of the bank to interface with the public would have inspired more confidence in customers.

Unfortunately for RBC, the cumulative effect of its errors was widespread. About 62,000 government workers in Ontario and 10,000 in New Brunswick didnt receive their automatic deposits even if they didnt do their personal banking at RBC. Their provincial governments did use RBC to route the payroll, so the deposits didnt reach the workers own banks. Hundreds of thousands of other workers around Canada ran into similar delays or difficulties accessing their deposits. The government of Ontario indicated that it would issue physical checks to employees who still had not received their deposits by the Monday following the initial computer glitch.

RBCs service disruption had one particularly dangerous side effect, over which the bank had little control. Opportunistic scam artists seized on the glitch to unleash a phishing scam that targeted RBC customers, taking advantage of the customers frustrations, security fears, or simply their naivete. An e-mail message with the subject line Official information from RBC Royal Bank stated that due to the increased fraudulent activity within our site we are undertaking a review of member accounts. The email linked to a page that looked like RBCs official Web site that instructed customers be sure to enter both client card number and business card number & password otherwise your account will not be verified and your access to the account will be blocked. Once RBC customers entered the requested information at that bogus site, hackers could access their accounts.

RBC announced that it had resumed normal business practices during the week beginning June 8, 2004. The bank continued to resolve discrepancies from service charges and overdraft interest that resulted from the disruption and indicated that all accounts should be reflected accurately in customers next statements, by June 30.

On June 18, RBC announced that it had hired Crawford Adjusters Canada as its administrator for non- banking-related costs and losses in the banks processing disruption. The bank made claim forms available, by phone and on the Internet and set a deadline of September 30, 2004 for customers to file claims.

RBC was to handle all claims under $100 itself, leaving larger claims to Crawford. The total loss to RBC was contingent on the number of claims filed. However, that cost could rise significantly based on a class action suit filed in Quebec that requested damages of $500 for each customer that was affected.

In hindsight, analysts agree that RBC handled the technology portion of its problem effectively. The bank erred mostly in its estimates of how long the recovery period would be. In addition to issuing a formal apology, RBC created an area of its Web site that was devoted to detailed explanations of the problem and updates on the progress of restoring its records. The bank also enlisted IBM Corporation as a consultant to investigate the causes of the problem and provide guidance on how to avoid such problems

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going forward. RBC offered refunds to its customers for any banking fees that they incurred as a result of the computer problems and agreed to reimburse other financial institutions and their customers for certain expenses that may have resulted from RBCs errors. These moves could go a long way toward restoring faith in customers of the bank, who, in the immediate aftermath, were understandably concerned about the security of their finances. One client said that she didnt intend to leave RBC just then, but, If it happened again, I may not be so loyal.

Sources: Ian Austen, Bank Software Woes Leave Many Canadians Without Money, New York Times, June 7, 2004; RBC Admits Human Error, Scam Artists Act, Ottawa Business Journal, June 10, 2004; Lindsay Bruce, RBC Glitch Still Not Ironed Out, ITWorldCanada.com, June 7, 2004; Chris Conrath, Anatomy of a Snafu, ITWorldCanada.com, June 11, 2004; Paul Waldie, RBC Calls in Help, Globe and Mail, www.theglobeandmail.com, accessed June 19, 2004; Mel Duvall, RBCs Account Imbalance, Baseline Magazine, July 1, 2004; and CP, RBC Still Making Up for Glitch, London Free Press, www.canoe.ca, accessed June 19, 2004.

Case Study-1 Questions

3. Discuss how well did RBC respond to its computer problem? Analyze the actions taken by of RBC. Specify what do you think the bank might have done differently to prevent the problem and to handle it once it did occur?